C-Gate

Toolkit 1.2.2

I have also had issues with Toolkit and C-Gate in 1.2.2
On Friday i was configuring a new laptop for one of our techs and instaled the latest versions of everything from the CIS web-site.
The new Laptop fired up and connected to C-Bus the first time around, but on the second attempt, gave a message that COM 1 was in use by another application.
We did a restart and tried again with no success.
We then rook a laptop we know works with all CIS software applications (has for 9 months now), and updated from 1.1.9 to 1.2.2, and experienced the same problem, C-Gate has somehow managed to permanently lock up the serial port.
We have one machine that is not fitted with a serial port, so use a USB to serial adaptor, we loaded 1.2.2 onto it and it seems to function ok.
It appears that C-Gate somehow is able to permanently lock up the physical serial COM port.
Since we have installed USB to serial adaptors to the other two machines, and they are now usable.

 

Interesting.. I'll keep my ears open for any similar reports.. but its hard to imagine that C-Gate would be able to permanently lock up a COM port?

 

Touch wood !

I have a Dell (D510) with onboard serial port @ COM1. I use the latest toolkit / PICED without a hitch.

NickD, love your line about the serial cable warning

 

Light-hearted comment:

Beware of Geeks bearings gifs.

Serious comment:

I have been able to keep using PICED and Toolkit for the weekend, only if I go into the G-Gate folder and start the G-gate program first. Go figure.

And sorry Richo, but my Dell laptop works fine - but it has never been connected to the Internet.

cheers

 

What model? Mine is a Latitude D810. I have had no problems using an older Inspiron 8000 model Dell.

 

Hi Richo

Inspiron 6000

Adding a bit more to this C-Gate jigsaw, I have now installed PICED v3.4 and Toolkit v1.2.2 to my PC and I am experiencing no problems running PICED. On this computer, I don't have to start C-Gate first.

I have a favourite saying that goes "don't tell me how my watch works when all I want to do is tell the time" . I find it frustrating as an end-user to be the one telling our installer what to do.

However, the CTC is so good to use, so it's worth the effort.

cheers

 

About 6mths ago I had a problem with C-gate not starting or stopping automatically. It only happened with Computers that had been upgraded from V2 software to Toolkit (it was v1.1.5 I think)

So, I had to make a shortcut that started Cgate, and remember to open that before opening Toolkit (or it hung badly when it tried to open a server connection).

Anyway, I un-installed the older Toolkit then re-installed v1.1.9 and Cgate started working properly. I have since upgraded Toolkit to v1.2.x and it still seems to be OK.

 

Hi,

Just for the record. I still can't get my laptop to connect to C-bus via comm port.
I will have to resort to a PCMCIA converter. Is it possible that C-bus uses a certain line/pin on the comm port that is not used by other devices which are also programmed via serial port.
I am still able to program other devices via comm port and when tested on a bench, the serial port seems 100%, but alas... C-bus!!!

Thanks

 

This is obvious but it seems you are running out of options. Do you have any programs running in the background that have even the slightest Coms component. Something must be reserving the com port as far as C-Gate is concerned.

 

USB Serial adaptor would be a safer bet.. especially the recommended one (Dontronics)

No.. just TX/RX/Signal Ground I have a Dell laptop (D810) that works fine.. Port settings from Device manager are set to

BPS:9600
Data Bits : 8
Parity : None
Stop Bits : 1
Flow Control : No

Advanced settings are:

Use FIFO Buffers : Yes
Receive Buffer : High (14)
Transmit Buffer High (16).


Are yours the same?

 

Brodsky, can you also edit the network address and make sure there's no trailing space after the "COM1" ? long shot.. we did have a problem a few versions ago with with this..

 

Hi Duncan

Yes, exactly like that. All firewalls are disabled and the only other device that also tied up a comm port was the network card which I removed.

Still, I have no success.

Looks like I don't have any more options?

Thanks
Brodsky

 

Brodsky, hi - I know that you are trying to get your computer to communicate with the C-bus network and nothing is working.

I had similar problems trying to get my computer to connect with our CTC and solved that problem by starting the C-Gate program before I started PICED. No problems now.

However (and I think this is the crux) today, our installer was here and his computer has never been able to communicate with our CTC. So, side-by-side we had his laptop and my laptop running and we would take turns using the same patch lead to connect. His kept failing and mine kept working.

I'm good at running software but a bit soft on technical matters but to me, this has to be a hardware problem.

When we encountered this problem for the first time last Friday, I was getting the same error messages as your first post.

Another suggestion is to try the 1300 722 247 phone no (select option 1) - those guys really helped.

cheers

 

Hi The Don,

Could you tell me how to start C-gate first as I have been unable to manage that. Do I try to open command interace or console version, because I did and nothing happened. I want to try that.

If it wasn't for the fact that my laptop could connect to the Minderpro security panel and have tested ok on a bench with dedicated comm port tester I would have accepted long time ago that it's hardware.

I don't want to imply that there is something wrong with C-gate/Toolkit, but 2 and two don't add up here. I have accepted the PCMCIA>RS232 converter route, but is still not satisfied.

Thanks for the advice.

Cheers

 

I start C-Gate by going through My Computer/Clipsal/C-Gate folders and then double click on the file named cgate (Executable Jar File). Nothing shows on the screen to indicate what this program does so I just leave that folder open, minimize it and carry on to PICED.
good luck. I'll stick around for another 30 mins.

 

Debugging C-Gate

I'm going to cover the basics in getting C-Gate running.

Generally when you run C-Bus Toolkit or any other CIS product that uses C-Gate they will automatically run C-Gate and you don't have to do any of the following.

However, from time to time things don't go to plan so it's handy to have so alternative methods, as well as a way to provide information to support if these don't work.

Launching C-Gate as a console application

When C-Bus Toolkit is installed, a start menu item is created for C-Gate. [ start|Programs|Clipsal|C-Gate2|Console Version of C-gate ]. When launched you will get a black window with text in it with the window title "Console Version of C-Gate".

The text will look similar to this:

Code:

Clipsal C-Gate(TM) v2.3.44 (build 2077)
Hardware key: Key initialize failed (DRIVER NOT INSTALLED)
License file found:
   Customer Name:    PUBLIC
   Location:         PUBLIC
   License type:     PUBLIC
   Network licenses: 2
   Expiry:     1 January 2100
Total network licenses: 2

The first line is the version information for C-Gate.
The second line is a warning that C-Gate was unable to detect the drivers for the hardware key we use for licensing C-Gate. This is the normal situation for a default installation, we don't install the drivers and only a handful of users need them.
The third line is the notice that C-gate has found a license file. By default this allows for 2 networks to be used with run time applications (no limit applies for use by C-Bus Toolkit).

So what happens if you don't get this window? or if it appears and disappears start away? Then you need to do the next step ...


Launching C-Gate as a console from the command line

A) click start menu and select run.

B) Enter "cmd" without the quotes if you run Windows 2000 or XP (if you run Windows 95/98/ME type "command" without the quotes instead) in the dialog box and press OK.

C) In the resulting command window type "cd\" without quotes and press enter.

D) type "cd clipsal\c-gate2" without quotes and press enter.

E) type "java -jar cgate.jar" without quotes and press enter

This will run cgate in a console like above, however if there are any problems the console will stay open even if C-Gate closes so that any messages can be read.

You will need to provide a copy of the resulting text so we can use it to help diagnose what is going on. It would also be helpful to have the following information as well ..

Determining the version of Java that C-Gate is using

A) click start menu and select run.

B) Enter "cmd" without the quotes if you run Windows 2000 or XP (if you run Windows 95/98/ME type "command" without the quotes instead) in the dialog box and press OK.

C) Type "java -version" without the quotes in the window and report the result here as well. This should look something like:

Code:

C:\>java -version
java version "1.5.0_06"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.5.0_06-b05)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.5.0_06-b05, mixed mode, sharing)

C:\>

 

Thanks Richo - much more elegant and technically correct than my method. I think we both end up at the same point.
cheers

 

Directly launching the jar file fine, except when there are problems. My post wasn't to say your method is invalid, but merely to provide a way to get the necessary information to help diagnose a problem situation.

 

Hi Richo,

Could you provide me with an email address where I can email you the requested info to. The attachment specs on the forum hampers me.

Thanks a lot

 

Richo - you are worth more money.... Tell them I said so.
It won't help, but tell them I said so anyway...